News from Dept of Bleedin' Obvious

Digital homes cost too much dosh

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Today's news of the bleeding obvious comes from those friendly suits at Accenture who have made some startling discoveries about what's holding back the digital home of the future.

Apparently it's the cost of buying all that kit and the complexity of making it all work together that's stopped us from internet-enabling our fridges. Who'd have thought it? Nothing but meanness is stopping us having homes like the Jetsons.

Accenture asked punters in the US, UK, France, Germany and Japan what was stopping them from buying "digital home solutions". Surprisingly it wasn't embarrasment at asking for a "digital home solution" but the expense that put people off.

The survey offered four possible "homes of the future" - home entertainment, home healthcare, home management and virtual office - and refreshingly a majority were interested in none of them. Entertainment came out top with 42 per cent expressing a strong interest, falling to 28 per cent interested in home management or virtual office.

Still failing to embrace the brave new world outlined by Accenture a majority of respondents thought the biggest benefit of a digital home would be to save them money - 56 per cent hoped for savings while 46 per cent thought it would "make life easier". Only four per cent of respondents thought they could afford such a service now.

Bizarrely, given these figures, "65 percent of respondents noted a strong desire to pay for digital home services and content in a subscription or leasing model." These people, we are assured, would pay between $20 and $50 a month for services like "guaranteed data backup, system support and specialized content such as medical data collection".